Misery Loves Company
by redcandle
Summary: Sequel to There Is No Happy Ever After. This is the aftermath of Alicia and Warrington's divorce.


"Misery Loves Company" by Redcandle17

Disclaimer: All recognizable characters and elements from the Harry Potter series belong to J.K. Rowling. No copyright infringement is intended.

Alicia knew Cassius was watching her, but she couldn't resist turning her head ever so slightly to make sure. Her lips curved into a smirk when she saw the rage on his face. There was nothing he could do. He'd already filed for sole custody of their daughter and the judge had ruled that dating a muggle did not make her an unfit mother.

She leaned close to Tyler and brushed her lips against his earlobe. "Love you."

He turned to kiss her, his face shinning with adoration. "I love you, too, babe."

Alicia barely heard him. Cassius was still staring at her, his face expressionless now. She watched as Marcus walked up to him, finally drawing his attention away from her.

"Let me introduce you to Angelina's husband," Alicia said, shrugging out of the circle of Tyler's arm.

Angelina, Montague, and Katie were huddled in a group in the far corner. No doubt Marcus had been with them before he went to Cassius. Katie had probably sent him to restrain Cassius if necessary. They needn't have worried about that. Cassius was much too i _civilized /i _to make a scene.

"Ang, Katie, you remember Tyler, don't you?"

Angelina and Katie gave Tyler weak smiles.

"And this is Angelina's husband, Montague," Alicia continued.

Montague uttered a terse "hello," glowering at Tyler, whose friendly smile had begun to fade.

"Hi, Montague," Tyler said. "Were you named after the Shakespeare character? Lucky it wasn't Romeo."

No one laughed.

Tyler looked uncomfortable. He glanced at Alicia, searching for some clue as to what to do.

"Excuse us," Alicia said to her friends, linking her arm with one of Tyler's and leading him away to the buffet table.

"Babe, I don't think they like me. In fact I'd say that Montague guy hates me."

Better not introduce him to Marcus then. That troll would probably break his hand under the guise of a handshake then claim to not know his own strength.

"It's not you, honey," Alicia reassured him. "Montague is i _his /i _best friend."

"Oh," Tyler said, grimacing as he understood the situation. "Are you sure I should be here?"

Alicia kissed his cheek and stroked the back of his neck with her fingernails, something she knew he loved. "Absolutely. They'd better get used to you because I intend to keep you around for a very long time."

He moved to kiss her and Alicia turned her head at the last moment, leaving him to kiss her neck instead while she searched the crowd for Violet Yaxley. She spotted her across the room with Lee Jordan.

Violet was nodding and smiling politely as Lee said something that required broad hand gestures to illustrate. She was wearing a i _nice /i _cocktail dress. It was black, high-necked, and knee-length, yet just slim-fitting enough to be stylish. She looked quite i _respectable /i _. And Alicia was sure that it was her Cassius would be fantasizing about if he fucked Violet tonight.

She'd worn red because he knew that despite his complaints about "Gryffindor colors" he loved the sight of her in red. Her dress had thin straps that constantly slid down her shoulders, a deep v-neck that displayed her breasts invitingly, and a skirt that was longer than she normally wore but which compensated by being tight enough to make it obvious that she couldn't be wearing underwear. It was the dress that had prompted their divorce.

_i She bought it because she knew it would look good on her. She knew Cassius wouldn't want her to wear it in public, but she enjoyed teasing him and she knew that he'd watch her the whole tonight when they went out. _

_They always argued over her clothes, and he'd spend the evening staring at her while distractedly scheming with his associates and flattering people he wanted favors from. Then they'd start making love the instant they were back in their own house. _

_But this time Cassius had taken one look at the red dress and demanded she change her clothes. _

_She'd merely laughed, used to the routine. _

_"You look like a whore, Alicia. Why are you doing this to me? Do you know what people say about you, about us!"_

_Alicia hated that word. It'd been flung at her practically since puberty, usually by the same people who tried to fuck her or to emulate her so someone else would fuck them. _

_Usually when he made her this angry, she threw something at him. But they were standing so close together that it was easier to slap him. She didn't decide to slap him; it seemed to happen on its own. _

_There was a moment of stillness, silence. They were both shocked. Then he said quietly, "I think we need to end this marriage." /i _

Everything had happened so fast after that. He'd started talking about divorce settlements and hired them both lawyers. Then she'd discovered she was pregnant. She knew if she told him he'd change his mind about the divorce, but she was angry at him. He should have been grateful to her for enlivening his life, not trying to throw her away.

So she'd moved out and only when it was becoming noticeable did she inform him of her pregnancy. He'd demanded, begged, and bribed her to stay married to him, and when he accepted that she wouldn't, he'd tried to get custody of their daughter before she was even born.

Truthfully if he'd arrived while she was in labor, Alicia probably would have taken him back. She'd been scared and despite the presence of her family and friends, she'd wanted him to hold her and tell her it would be all right. But he'd shown up hours after, and had stood as far away as he could from her and still be in the same room.

"Babe? Babe, you listening?"

"Of course," Alicia said, smiling at Tyler. She hated his habit of calling her "babe" but he was the perfect person to drive Cassius crazy. He was handsome, rich, fond of public displays of affection and he loved children – and, most importantly, he was a muggle. Alicia pressed her lips together to keep from laughing as she remembered the look on Cassius's face as their three year old eagerly ran to him to tell him about Uncle Tyler.

She wasn't a sadistic witch. She'd only decided to date a muggle after Cassius had told her he was engaged. She shouldn't have been surprised; after all, he needed a son to carry on his ancient, pure bloodline and name. But they'd been almost cordial lately and she'd thought her anger at him had burned out. However the thought of him with another woman, and then the sight of him with Violet had rekindled her anger.

She could have seduced him; even now she could tell he wanted her by the look in his eyes. Not even a i _well-bred /i _pureblood princess would tolerate her fiancé fucking his ex-wife. But Violet wasn't the problem. If she dumped Cassius, he could easily find another nice witch to marry. No, Alicia needed to hurt him, and there was no better way she could think of than to give his daughter a muggle step-father.

Though Tyler's reaction to the wizarding world irritated her and it was such a pain to cast memory charm after memory charm on him that she probably wouldn't marry him. No, she'd just keep him around until Cassius was carted away to an insane asylum or she got tired of being called "babe."

End


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